Restaurants, bars, other food service industries as well as many commercial establishments face the daunting task of cleanliness. For esthetics as well as health a clean establishment is a must.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/104,056, filed on Jan. 15, 2015, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
One ever present factor for commercial establishments as well as at home is that things often end up on the floor. Whether dirt is tracked in, liquids are spilled, or food simply falls from shelves, floors get dirty and food stuffs and liquids on the floor present risks of slipping as well as bacterial and mold build up.
As is well known floors are usually cleaned using mops. Mops have proven to be very successful at keeping floors clean and sanitary. They are quick to use, effective, low cost, long lasting and easily handled by even untrained workers. Mops are so successful that many establishments have built-in mop sinks.
In the prior art most built-in mop sinks were made from concrete. Cheap, easily fabricated, long lasting, extremely rugged and water resistant, concrete mop sinks have proved their utility over the years. However, concrete mop sinks are heavy and difficult to install. Keeping concrete mop sinks clean, mold-free and sanitary has always been a problem.
In particular, concrete mop sinks have ledges and develop cracks that compound sanitary problems. With the ever more stringent safety standards being put in place along with high legal liability for harm caused by poor sanitary conditions, many commercial establishments have rightly questioned whether concrete mop sinks are optimal.
Exacerbating the problem of concrete mop sinks is the wide use of fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP). Because of its low cost, high resistance to moisture, ease of use and ability to be molded with special features such as grooves FRP is very often used for forming sinks, backsplashes and other areas that need water resistance.
However, using a FRP backsplash with a concrete mop sink unavoidably creates ledges and gaps that foster bacterial and mold growth. Those ledges and gaps resist cleaning and sanitizing which results in unappealing looks and smells as well as being a potential source for harmful contamination.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a new type of mop sink that can be installed in almost any structural situation. Ideally such a mop sink would not support bacterial growth, could be easily cleaned of mold, would be structurally sound, could take rugged treatment and could survive environmental factors such as hot, cold, and solar radiation. Ideally such a mop sink would be part of a mop sink assembly have seamless joints to reduce cleaning effort and reduce bacterial and mold growth.